Potential Analysis of the Eastern Region and Nangarhar Province Implications in Regional Programming Raphy Favre September 2005 1 AKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DISCLAIMER An earlier version of this paper was produced by the author in January 2005 for CNFA in view of possible involvement in development work in the eastern region of Afghanistan. This document contains the view of the author and does not necessarily represent the positions of CNFA. Picture Front and Back Cover Pages Aerial view of Darunta dam, Nangarhar, 30 December 2003 Photographer: Juan Gonzales, Louis Berger Group. 2 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. FAO Regional Division 2. Region Potential Analysis 2.2 Landcover Forest Water and hydro-electricity Irrigation Proposed Check Dams Riparian Issues 2.2 Cereal Production 2.3 Cultivated Fruits 2.4 Vegetables 2.5 Other crops 2.6 Livestock 2.7 Some Projects in Nangarhar IFHope nursery Gulestan Ltd. Olive farm and processing plant 2.8 Industrial Park 3. Main Development Issues and Conclusion BIBLIOGRAPHY ANNEXES 3 Tables Table 1: Availability of Farming Land by Region Table 2: Availability of Other Landcover Resources Table 3: Summary of Hydro-Power Project of the Draft Power Sector Master Plan EIA : Environmental Impact Assessment Table 4: Formal Irrigation Scheme of Nangarhar Table 5: Comparison of Cereal Production by Region in MT Table 6 Comparison of Cultivated Fruits Production by Region in MT Table 7: Comparison of Cultivated Fruits Production by Region in MT Table 8: Comparative Advantages of Fruit Tree Cultivation in Afghanistan Table 9: Comparison of Vegetable Production by Region in MT Table 10: Comparison of Vegetable Production by Region in MT Table 11: Comparison of Vegetable Production by Region in MT Table 12: Number of cows and milking cows per family Figures Figure 1: Forest Cover Change, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Kunar provinces between 1977 and 2002 Figure 2: Market opportunities matrix on local markets (Afghanistan) Figure 3: Market opportunities matrix on the regional markets (Pakistan and India) Figure 4: Comparison of Cash Flow (all Costs included) of Adult Commercial Orchards and Opium Poppy Figure 5: Afghanistan Import/Export of Vegetable. Source: Favre & all, 2004a Figure 6: Map of the Horticulture Products Wholesale Markets and Size of Trade Figure 7: Elevation Differential between Afghanistan and Pakistan offers Counter- season Opportunities Pictures Pictures 1, 5: Aerial view of Darunta dam in Nangarhar (back and front page cover) Picture 2: View of dying olive orchards in Nangarhar Picture 3: Almond grafted seedlings raised on IFHope nursery in Jalalabad Picture 4: Aerial view of olive farms located above the irrigation canals Maps Map 1: FAO Regional Division of Afghanistan Map 2: Aerial View of Irrigated Area in Nangarhar Map 3: Location of Proposed Water Reservoirs 4 1. FAO Regional Division Agriculture data in Afghanistan are region (red) includes Nangarhar, presented by region, rather than Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan province. The map 1 shows the regional provinces. The data analyzed in this division of Afghanistan. The Eastern paper cover these four provinces. Map 1 FAO Regional Division of Afghanistan FAO Regional Divisions and Main Marketing Centers Mazari Sharif # North-East North East KABUL Hirat West-Central % Jalalabad # # Central West South Legend Regional Marketing Centers % Capital # Main Marketing Centers Kandahar # Regions (FAO division) Central East South-West North North-East South South-West N West West-Central W E S 100 0 100 200 Kilometers 5 2. Region Potential Analysis 2.2 Landcover The table 1 shows that the eastern total irrigated land covers only 145,280 region is not a main production area in hectares. The availability of rainfed land Afghanistan as it represents only 6% of is very small (< 1% of total) and mostly the permanently irrigated land and 3% located in the upper valleys of Kunar of the intermittently irrigated land. The province. Table 1 Availability of Farming Land by Region (in ha). Source: FAO, Landcover 19931 Permanently Intermittently Region Irrigated % Irrigated % Rainfed % TOTAL 1559654 100 1648136 100 4517714 100 North 356375 23 414604 25 2210298 49 Northeast 255921 16 26653 2 1022384 23 West 189025 12 277445 17 858690 19 West Central 41973 3 63968 4 151823 3 Central 132022 8 41406 3 58256 1 South 223640 14 252047 15 90021 2 Southwest 262355 17 525074 32 120227 3 East 98342 6 46939 3 6014 0 Table 2 Availability of Other Landcover Resources. Source: FAO, Landcover 19932 Region Forest % Rangeland % Waterbodies % Snow % TOTAL 1337582 100 29176732 100 665750 100 1463101 100 North 47830 4 4790748 16 53702 8 33585 2 Northeast 26315 2 3500094 12 71923 11 1002909 69 West 40238 3 4549186 16 169948 26 0 0 West Central 0 0 4503436 15 13035 2 14119 1 Central 14301 1 1457932 5 2542 0 94723 6 South 402434 30 4035075 14 66344 10 12427 1 Southwest 722 0 5697093 20 276057 41 317 0 East 805740 60 643169 2 12198 2 305021 21 1 FAO, “Landcover Atlas of Afghanistan, 1993”, printed in 1999. 2 FAO, Ibid., 1999. 6 The lowlands in Nangarhar and lower tropical crops such as citrus, sugar Kunar valley benefit from a semi-tropical canes and henna are produced around climate, and have the highest proportion Jalalabad. The Nangarhar Valley of high cropping intensity irrigated land Authority that aimed at reclaiming desert in the country. The riverine farms, land divided in 4 state farms planted situated along valley bottoms of varying primarily citrus and olive trees. widths, produce a range of crops throughout the year. Double cropping is Yet, based on land availability, the the rule rather than the exception and farming potential of the eastern region is triple cropping is noted in areas offering limited. 365 growing days per year. Semi- Forest The table 2 shows that 60% of the UNEP’s satellite analyses3 revealed that national forests are located in the conifer forests in the provinces of Eastern region. These forests are Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan have mainly located in Kunar and Nuristan been reduced by an average of 50 per and represent a vast natural resource. cent since 1978. Deodar cedar (Cedrus The oak and coniferous forests density deodara) is a straight-grained, decay- depends on the amount of monsoon resistant, aromatic wood and the rainfall reaching the area from the Indian primary conifer species harvested for subcontinent. The lower valleys have decades. The destructions of the walnut (Juglans regia) and birch (Betula eastern forests are huge environmental kunaresis, B. jacquemontii) forests and and economic concerns. thickets and valley meadows. Between 1500m and 2500m, there is a thick Appropriate exploitation of these forests stand of oak forests, dominated by could provide a sustainable income to Quercus baloot and Quercus the region. Moreover, the potential for semecarpifolia on drier slopes and, in tourism (national and international) of more humid places, by Quercus dilatata. the forested area is substantial. These Above this belt, up to the tree line at valleys could follow similar development 3300m lies a coniferous forest belt with as Northern Pakistan which has cedar (Cedrus deodara), spruce (Picea developed well organized tourism smithiana), fir (Abies spectabilis), pine infrastructures for national visitors. (Pinus gerardiana, Pinus wallichiana), juniper (Juniperus semiglobosa), and yew (Taxus wallichiana). 3 UNEP, “Afghanistan. Post-Confict Environment Assessment”, 2002. www.unep.org 7 Figure 1 Forest Cover Change, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Kunar provinces, 1977 and 20024 4 UNEP, Ibid., 2002. 8 Water and hydro-electricity The Eastern region also account for Hydro-electrical infrastructures on the 21% of the total permanent snow in the Kabul River were the best developed in country (table 2). The whole region is Afghanistan. Yet, hydro-power potential part of the Kabul river basin. The still remains very important. The main watersheds of the various rivers flowing hydro-electrical structures built in the into the eastern region are much larger Eastern region are: than the region itself. The Kunar River 1. Surobi dam built with German takes its sources on the other side of the assistance. Norconsult-Norplan border from glaciers in the region of the (2003) notes the equipment is robust Teraj Mir Mountain (7,750 m asl) in the and has been comparatively well Karakoum range of Pakistan. maintained with the limited means available. The units can still be The mean annual volume of river operated close to their original discharge for the Kabul river basin output and the station has had a flowing into the eastern region is 21,650 regular energy production mtn m3. This represents 26% of the throughout the years. total river discharge in the country (one 2. The Darunta hydro-power plant was quarter)5. constructed by the USSR and commissioned in 1967 with an initial capacity of 11,000 kW. Darunta dam and the fish-breeding centre were established in 1965 with the assistance of China. The status of the dam was not evaluated by the Norconsult-Norplan power sector review. Yet, it appears that the hydro-electrical capacity of the dam have been severely reduced in the past two decades. The hydro-power potential of the Kunar river, which alone represents 18% of the total river discharge in Afghanistan (annual mean discharge: 15,250 mtn m3) is untouched. The river offers a huge hydro-potential. The table 3 shows the proposed hydro-electrical project by Norconsult-Norplan (2003). 5 Favre, Raphy and Monowar, Golam, “Watershed Atlas of Afghanistan. Working Document for Planners”, FAO/UNDP/MIRWE/AREU/SDC, 2004. 9 Table 3 Summary of Hydro-Power Project of the Draft Power Sector Master Plan EIA : Environmental Impact Assessment. Source: Favre and Monowar, 2004 # PROJECT Province District River Water Assessm Resettle. Brief Description and Basin shed ent > 200 Critical Issues required pers. 3 KUNAR Kunar Bar Indus Kunar Full EIA Yes New 160 m high earth fill dam Alternative Kunar with a crest length of 1080 m.